LDS Hospital celebrates the gifts of life

Livers were spared for several patients at LDS Hospital, as well as kidneys, pancreases and two hearts — making the month of May a record-breaking transplant month.

"When you think of all the records humans are trying to break, there's no greater record to break than that of organ donations and giving the gift of life," said transplant surgeon LeGrand Belnap.

In May, the LDS Hospital transplant program performed 32 life-saving organ transplants including 14 kidney, eight liver, four combined kidney/pancreas, three pancreas, two heart and one pediatric liver transplant. A celebration of life was held this week to recognize recipients and honor living and deceased organ donors at the LDS Hospital Education Center.

Sonya Hauer, 37, received one of her sister's kidneys in September of last year. Her diabetic condition forced her into needing a new pancreas, too. She was on a waiting list for the pancreas only three weeks before she received a cadaver pancreas at LDS Hospital on Mother's Day.

"I'm here to say that I've actually been blessed twice in my life," Hauer said. "I've been diabetic since birth, and I now I don't find myself going home and saying 'I don't have to take shots anymore.' I find myself saying 'Are you a donor?' to everyone."

Because of her successes with organ donation, Hauer has persuaded her neighbor to join the donor registry.

Belnap said there has been a tremendous change in the climate of organ transplantation. When the transplant program began at LDS Hospital 20 years ago, organ transplant rates for those waiting for organs was 20 to 30 percent. In the last year, 80 percent of waiting patients received prolonged life through the donation of someone else's organs, compared to the national rate of just 43 percent.

"Efforts to educate the community and raise awareness about the importance of organ donation are really paying off," said Joan Arata, manager of the organ donation department at LDS Hospital. "New technology, such as the online donor registry, is also making it much easier for people to become donors. People now understand what a wonderful gift of life an organ donation can make to someone in desperate need."

Orem resident Brent Jensen donated a kidney to his wife four years ago. She received her second kidney transplant in May.

"We called it our second honeymoon," Jensen said about their time in the hospital together and the six weeks of recovery. "We enjoyed room service at the touch of a button."